Remapped Ecu Trouble

[Luciano]

hey guys, i acquired a remapped mines ecu for my R33 s1 today.

I know, these things are suited to run with jap fuel, but i thought i'd give it a go as i've read mostly good things about them from other forum members.

Anyhow, i went ahead and installed it after work today, went and fired the engine up. It ran like SHIT. Very lumpy & rough idle, strong unburnt fuel fumes smell out the exhaust... so I let the engine idle for no longer than 30 seconds and shut it off.

My impression, the car does not like this ecu. Tried doing a search for info on ecu installation (for when running the car fior the first time after installing), and couldnt really find anything.

One thing that caught my eye though; there were three unconnected loose wires in part of the ecu loom wiring bundle. A black, a red, and a purple; each with rubber protectors on each end. Dont know if this would have any effects (as i usually run the stock ECU as is, and it runs fine)?

The other thing that crossed my mind was the possibility of the ECU being to suit a sereis 2 R33. It was however advertised as a S1 item...

The model codes on the ecu casing are completely different - my standard ecu reads "TJ", and the mines item reads "CD".

anyone know much about these ecu's / have any advice?

[Madaz]

you have a Cross Dressing ECU

there is no difference to S1 and S2 ecu's

personally why bother with a remap from japan to what mods you have no idea what they were tuning for max power max lean out too risky really

just sell it and buy a PFC

[Luciano]

max lean out too risky really

Well, definitely done myself a mischief now, because i put the standard ecu back in, and suprise suprise it wont run properly at all now. I reckon the cylinders are flooded with fuel. F@#K.

just sell it and buy a PFC

DEFINITELY will.

[Luciano]

sounds like this thing has done some damage

[Madaz]

it may have dumped too much fuel in just sleep on it and see if it starts with the factory ecu in the morning

[Luciano]

yeah i will cheers mate. freezing cold weather definitely doesnt do it any good

[heslo]

Check there's no sort of FCD linked in or any other aftermarket jap goodie that should be earthed and now you have disturbed it. Happened to Steve when we were messing with his ECU

[Luciano]

got me wondering Luke

i really dont know what im looking for when it comes to the ecu and wiring as this is the first time i've had to remove the kick panel and ecu. as i mentioned in the first post, i had three loose wires around the ecu loom wiring area - a red, a black, and a purple. and after closer inspection last night, i noticed a green one was cut loose also.

Could this be from an ex-owner with aftermarket gadgets?

Ill be looking into this more myself today

[Krishy]

yeah those mines ecu's are remapped tuned to specific mods and fuel mixtures.....so in other words my car's tune will most likely not suit yours mate....as Steve said that if your going aftermarket there are power fc's, haltech, microtech etc.....and they are well supported as well and a lot of tunners can tune those for ya.....maybe try getting the mines one retuned by a reputable workshop in adelaide and see what they can do for ya.....

hope that there is no damage done to your ride by this little trial and error.......goodluck mate

[Damo_R34]

Would Jeff from Speedlab be able to remap the ecu to suit your mods?

[Madaz]

Damo it all depends on the ROM if its a cracked r33 ecu then i dont think he can if its a vg30dett then it wont be a problem

[Tangles]

one way around it:

purchase both a SAFC-II (or greddy ultimate) and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator

get it on the dyno for a tune

ie I had 160kw

then got a remap over the net, was 90kw, on dyno back to 190kw then 206kw then 240kw

[joeleo87]

mines ECUs nothing but trouble

i had one in my car when i first got it, loads of power, it was an awesome tune. Until my car would randomly die lol

turned out to be the ECU

[Luciano]

yeah those mines ecu's are remapped tuned to specific mods and fuel mixtures.....so in other words my car's tune will most likely not suit yours mate....as Steve said that if your going aftermarket there are power fc's, haltech, microtech etc.....and they are well supported as well and a lot of tunners can tune those for ya.....maybe try getting the mines one retuned by a reputable workshop in adelaide and see what they can do for ya.....

absolutely Krishy, know what you mean!

i had a chat with the member that sold me the ecu late last night and he was surprised at how my car reacted after installing. He has very similar mods to me, and the ecu ran his 33 S1 quite well.

He offfered a refund and all; but I said i'll try and get my car running normally on the stock ECU in order to identify if the problem is actually the mines ecu and not something else like Luke (Heslo) mentioned above (wires not earthed etc).

I am still doing some diggin round to find about more about the ECU model numbers that i mentioned in my first post. I came across this post from paulr33 today as well which could be a possibility;

as the guys have identified already, the main notable difference between series 1 and series 2 is the coil setup

this however, means nothing to the ECU, as the changes (between s1 and s2) are done on the engine loom side, so its transparent to the ECU

all of the sensors, dials, meters, voltage ranges etc are the same, and operate the same, there is no difference

there are other notable differences such as 4wire AFM vs 3wire but again, this is engine loom side difference, so its transparent to the ECU

an issue does however occur, when say on a series 2 skyline, you plug in a series 1 ECU and the MER (or MEC?) chip is different

from memory this is the main hitachi chip on the board. there are a few variants for S1 and for S2

if you use the wrong one, the car basically runs like a bucket of crap, sluggish, slow and doesnt go hard

there are no sensor errors, no warning lights, no backfiring etc when this happens, it just runs sluggish

why it happens, i dont know, its something to do with the MER (or MEC?) chip being the wrong model - ask toshi, he knows what it is, and why it goes sluggish

there would be minor minor differences in the map data between s1 and s2 but these differences would be neglibable

________________________________________

so in summary

interchanging is OK - but check how the car drives

interchanging auto to manual is OK - but not recommended - why would you bother? its just a headache

in all cases its by far easier to source the correct ECU for your car, in all cases

the stock ecu is worth $10

aftermarket ECU's copy the stock ecu (they must, to work corretly) so a plug and play ECU will be the same

ie; its no difference s1 or s2 and it works the same

ill check that hitachi chip stuff when i get home

I have searched for R33 RB25 ecu model numbers, and am still yet to come across one labelled the same as this Mines ECU (being "CD").

although i have just noticed/found; TJ = S1 Manual Turbo, TK = S1 Auto Turbo CC = S2 Manual Turbo. Maybe CD is S2 Auto Turbo... ? blah!

[Toshi]

I think ECU is fault.

Because normaly remap ecu is not change idle map.(its close to almost std mods)

Do not buy mines ecu.

Its glue on chip.(never remove)

So chip can not change in the future.

[Luciano]

thanks for the input everybody, I ended up solving the problem!

heres what i found;

the jap ex owner of my car was running an safc.

he/she tapped into specific wires on the ecu loom - these tapped wires were the 3-4 wires that i explained were hanging out loose with rubber protection + connectors on the ends of them. when i pulled the loom out the first time removing the standard ecu, i slightly yanked the loose wires to follow them and see where they led to. one of them split the ecu wire and disconnected from the ecu loom - the previous owner or mob who did compliance were rough and connected these particular wires by twisting and covering them with electrical tape. no good!

got the soldering iron out, soldered 4 connections properly, standard ecu back in, fired up, and she idled purring like normal

threw the Mines item in after for a test, and took it for a drive;

[Krishy]

so how did the Mines ecu go during the test run

[Damo_R34]

so did the previous owner fail to tell you he had an SAFC?

[Luciano]

so how did the Mines ecu go during the test run

im pretty impressed.

I havent driven my car without the rich & retard settings (that the stock ecu enables after 'breathing' mods) in AGES.

The car has come back to life. The power curve through the revs feels so much better. Definitely feeling more power, hands down.

so did the previous owner fail to tell you he had an SAFC?

nah, previous owner was in japan, i didnt have contact with him/her -

the safc was probably removed at compliance i'd say

[Krishy]

at least thats good to hear luke

i felt the difference in my car after the tune.....felt the car breathing a lot better and power curve a lot better